The requirement for electronic logging devices and restrictions on driving hours for truck drivers will raise costs for some smaller trucking companies,
John Wiehoff,
the company’s chief executive, said in an earnings conference call with analysts on Wednesday. “But we’re pretty comfortable…that it will get absorbed over time and that it will get adapted to by the small carriers,” he said.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which represents thousands of independent drivers, has called the demand for electronic logging devices, known as e-logs, a “big-brother mandate” that puts an undue burden on small business.

Mr. Wiehoff said the e-log requirements actually may help smaller carriers run more efficiently, and close the gap with larger carriers, many which have been using the devices for years.

The ways “some of the larger carriers tried to differentiate [in] the past are not going to be as prevalent,” said Mr. Wiehoff. “We do think the capacity landscape will remain very fragmented and in a lot of ways it will actually improve the quality and the overall blend of capacity that we could utilize in the marketplace.”

Mr. Wiehoff said C.H. Robinson, which contracts with thousands of trucking companies to move goods for its shipping customers, gives about 90% of its business to companies with 100 or fewer trucks. He said he does not expect larger trucking companies will take a larger share of that business as a result of the tougher federal safety rules.

Still, the impact of e-logs is likely to be significant enough to affect pricing, said
Andy Clarke,
C.H. Robinson’s chief financial officer. “We would expect ELDs to cause long-term truckload pricing to rise, and that increase to be influenced by many difference factors both positive and negative, such as GDP, capacity, and the like,” he said.